The Race For You
by ccBlossom
Summary: Barry Allen has found himself completely in love with a woman who isn't Iris. Will he be able to protect her from Zoom? Or will he end up killing her himself? Is he strong enough? Most importantly, is he fast enough
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Nothing in Barry's life has ever been easy for him; he expected nothing less than chaos. Although, Barry would often ask himself, if he could go back, would he change anything; if he knew what would happen to him the day the particle accelerator exploded, would he try to avoid it. Barry often told himself that he would never change what happened to him in a million years. Barry would thought about the good people he met and the friends he made and realized that he couldn't imagine life without them.

Barry walked around the cortex of Star Labs aimlessly, kicking the dirt with the tip of his shoe, trying to entertain himself for the time being. It

was a slow day, with nothing really exciting happening and Barry started to get bored. Barry found his way in front of where his suit was displayed and turned to look at Cisco and Jay who was sitting at the computer, both in deep thought; then over at Caitlin who was in the medical bay cleaning her utensils.

"Guys, you know the last thing I want is some psycho meta terrorizing the city but I really need something to do."

Barry complained.

"How about you go be a forensic scientist, seems like you'd be good at it."

Harry barked back.

"Damn, who broke your glasses?"

Cisco sarcastically asked. At that moment the meta human alert went off which brought both Jay and Caitlin into the cortex.

"Central city's bank truck just got robbed, heading down Queen Avenue."

Cisco announced.

"Looks like your wish came true Allen."

Harry said as soon as Barry quickly placed on his suit and flash out of there, causing a bunch of important paper that was neatly organized to fly into the air.

"You guys should buy some paper weights."

Jay said after a moment of silence, with no hint of playfulness in his voice.

"Oh you don't say!"

Cisco barked back.

Barry saw the robbers on their motorcycles going what seemed like 100 mph with duffle bags filled with the stolen money. They were heading towards central park which on a Saturday would be totally filled with children and families. Barry then noticed that there were gunshot holes in the windshields of the police cars that were chasing them which boiled Barry's blood because Patty could easily be the one in those cars. Barry sped up and tackled both of the robbers at the same time which caused their bikes to run straight into a brick wall of a near by building. Barry stood over the robbers with his arms folded and a smug smile.

"Nobody goes over the speed limit but me."

"Remind me to work on better punchlines with you."

Cisco said through the ear piece in Barry's suit. Barry smirked and rolled his eyes at Cisco's comment but decided to let it go.

The police came to cuff the robbers and took the bag of money into custody as Patty stepped out of the second cop car to check out the scene. Barry would have flashed away by then but her beauty caught him off guard. Barry felt strange seeing her there and her not having a clue who he really was. Barry has been debating with himself back and forth on whether he should tell Patty the truth about him. Even though it was only their 5th date, which was set for that night, Barry knew that Patty was the one. At that moment Barry made a silent promise to himself that he would tell Patty the truth, and soon...Just not right now. Breaking out of thought, Barry flashed out of there before Patty was able to acknowledge him.


	2. The Other One

Chapter 2

Barry looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath. He checked his teeth and fixed his hair one last time before he left the bathroom and started his way downstairs. Barry was devoted to being the perfect gentleman that night, which meant opening her door, pulling out her chair, and paying the check. Patty was so special to Barry and he knew that she deserved nothing but perfection.

"woohoo, now who's that handsome devil!"

Joe said as he met Barry at the bottom of the staircase. Barry blushed and laughed off the comment. Barry had on a fitted black shawl lapel suit with a black bow tie that really brought his whole outfit together, and a new pair of dark purple alligator shoes that was a gift from Ray Palmer. Joe and Barry looked over at Iris who was sitting at the dining room table on her phone. Iris was usually the one to greet Barry at the steps and comment on his outfit when Barry got ready for a date but this time she didn't seem to care, which Barry found strange.

"Iris?"

Joe called over to her. Iris looked over at the pair at he bottom of the steps and gave Barry a depressing smile.

"You look amazing Barr."

Without another word, Iris turned back to what she was doing on her phone. Barry frowned in confusion, he never saw Iris act like that before; He thought that, if anything, Iris would be happy to see that Barry has moved on. Joe turned back to Barry, raised his eyebrows and shrugged at Iris' behavior. As much as Barry wanted to march over to Iris and not leave until she told him what was wrong, he didn't want to be late for his date with Patty. Barry patted Joe on his shoulder to say goodbye.

"All right I gotta go, don't wait up."

"I want you home at 12."

Joe jokingly said which Barry took seriously.

"What?"

Barry said in a childish tone of voice.

"Boy you're 27 years old, those days are over, go have fun."

Barry awkwardly laughed, he couldn't believe he fell for that. Barry guessed that his nervousness for his date with Patty threw off his sense of humor.

"Yeah, thanks Joe."

After Barry left, there was Iris to be dealt with. Joe walked back into the dining room and took a seat right next to her. Even though she noticed that her father was staring her down, Iris refused to acknowledge him and let the silence continue to fill the room. Joe crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"What's wrong baby girl?"

Iris looked up at her father and frowned.

"What? Nothing."

"mhmm; come on, I know you Iris, and you know me too."

Iris turned off her phone, looked up at her father and signed.

"So I know that you won't stop bothering me until I tell you."

Joe nodded his head in response.

"Well if you must know...I just don't think Patty is the right for Barry."

"mhmm and who, in your opinion, is right for Barry?"

Iris looked down at her phone and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know."

"Well maybe you're...referring to yourself?"

Iris busted out in awkward, uncomfortable laughter which Joe joined in with.

"WHAT? NO WAY!"

"Right, what was I thinking? Because as I recall, you're the one who turned Barry down."

As Joe's mockery laughter increased, Iris' began to subside. Joe stood up and took his and Iris' plates in the kitchen to wash, leaving Iris by herself. Iris never felt this way before, not even when Barry was dating Linda. Maybe Iris knew that it was never gonna work out with Linda but with Patty, it was different. Just the way Barry talked about Patty or how his eyes would widen every time he saw her was different. Iris sat at the table a couple more minutes thinking about her life and what she wanted while Joe lurked from the kitchen with a big smirk on his face. Joe got Iris to confront her feelings which was his plan all along.


End file.
